Chapter 3443 — The Secret of the Broken Map

"So does that mean wandering cultivators have no chance at all?" Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback. Didn't this amount to shutting all wandering cultivators out at the door?

"Not at all—wandering cultivators have their chance too. To keep things balanced, a rule was laid down many years ago allowing wandering cultivators to take part in the trials: any wandering cultivator who possesses a fragment of the Cloud-Tier Island map may use a single piece as their qualification to register for the Heaven Tier trial!" Song Lingwei said. "Of course, those map fragments were hidden away very cleverly back then, so I doubt many wandering cultivators ever got their hands on one!"

"A fragment of the Cloud-Tier Island map?" Wei Zhao's heart gave a faint stir. Could it be... the very fragment he had collected? He hadn't known what it was before, but now it seemed quite possible!

"Yes—though of course it isn't the real Cloud-Tier Island map, but a copied map that the Five Luminaries Sect duplicated back in the day, then cut apart and scattered abroad, all so that wandering cultivators might obtain a piece and have the chance to enter the trials!" Song Lingwei said.

So it was an admission ticket! Wei Zhao nodded. That made sense. If it had truly been a treasure map, then missing even one piece would have ruined it—gathering them all would have been far too difficult! But if it was a ticket, a single piece was enough to get you in!

That also explained why the pieces had been scattered so secretly.

"Then if I don't have a map fragment, does that mean I can't go?" Wei Zhao asked, betraying nothing in his expression.

"In theory, yes. But this time, in order to let me kill you, the Overseas Cultivators' Association arranged for me to have a qualification to enter the trials—and you, brother-in-law, will be permitted to take part as well," Song Lingwei said.

"Why is that? Does the Overseas Cultivators' Association really have such influence that it can sway the Five Luminaries Sect's decisions?" Wei Zhao was slightly startled. "But that doesn't add up—the Five Luminaries Sect is working with the Center now, so it should be opposed to your Overseas Cultivators' Association. How could it possibly be swayed?"

"The one it's opposed to is me, and me alone!" Song Lingwei smiled bitterly. "Actually, I know a secret. The chairman of our Overseas Cultivators' Association, He Dantou, is the younger brother of Ancestor Xuanchen—the Five Luminaries Sect's current acting sect master!"

"What?!" Wei Zhao's eyes went wide. He had never imagined such a hidden truth lay behind all this! These two were actually brothers? The ties involved really were tangled beyond belief!

"That's right. Ancestor Xuanchen's true name is He Qianting. They are blood brothers, and in his early years, He Dantou was a member of the Five Luminaries Sect too—only he drifted overseas very early on and founded the Overseas Cultivators' Association!" Song Lingwei said. "Only a handful of the Association's higher-ups—my second grandfather among them—know these secrets!"

"I never would have guessed..." Wei Zhao said with a sigh. "So then, to let you kill me, He Dantou would have Ancestor Xuanchen arrange a place for me in the Heaven Tier trial?"

"He should." Song Lingwei nodded. "But whether he will now, that's hard to say. After all, if the two of them talked it over, it could expose the relationship between you and me..."

"I understand." Wei Zhao did not much mind. Even if no place was arranged for him, he had a map fragment to serve as his ticket into the Heaven Tier trial, and when the time came, Ancestor Xuanchen would have no say in it. Having publicly announced the rules, the Five Luminaries Sect could not very well change them midway—that would be a slap in the face too humiliating to bear!

Kang Jingming had gone, and the Song family had returned home, and now Wei Zhao's own day of departure had come. Xiao Shu was leaving, and Wei Zhao still had to go fetch Xiao Jiu and take him to the Yellow Earth Sect—counting the days, there really wasn't much time left!

The launch of the tier-one and tier-two automatic pill cauldrons had all but wiped out the Mystic Pill Sect's business; the entire cauldron market and the market for tier-one and tier-two pills had been monopolized by the automatic cauldrons with scarcely any suspense—and Ancestor Xuanchen was sick with frustration over it!

"Miss Lan, when will Dr. Benjamin II crack the latest cauldron?" Ancestor Xuanchen asked, every single day.

"Soon. Science and technology aren't like cultivation—how could it be quick? Please be patient, Mr. Xuanchen. I expect we'll have an answer very soon!" Miss Lan said.

"Report!" a disciple suddenly shouted loudly from outside the door.

"Who is it? What's the matter?" Ancestor Xuanchen asked. Xiao Yi was dead now, and Xiao Er had gone off to make trouble for Wei Zhao; of the disciples Ancestor Xuanchen had left, some were dead and some crippled, and he had not yet found anyone to replace Xiao Er—so this shouting disciple was the one in charge of sweeping the room where the soul jade tablets were kept.

"Reporting to Ancestor Xuanchen, a great disaster has struck!" The disciple hurried into Ancestor Xuanchen's room and said, "Second Senior Brother's soul jade tablet has shattered!"

"What?!" In that instant Ancestor Xuanchen's head buzzed, and he sprang to his feet, eyes glaring at the disciple. "What did you say? Xiao Er's tablet has shattered? Are you certain?"

"Ancestor Xuanchen, how could I lie about such a thing? It happened just now..." the disciple said carefully, his face drawn with misery.

"Take me to see it!" Ancestor Xuanchen was frantic. Heedless of Miss Lan still being at his side, he rushed out of the room and followed the disciple away.

Miss Lan paid it no mind. She too knit her brows. She knew Xiao Er's strength—he was a top-tier expert at the Heaven Tier great perfection. If something had happened to him now, what did that mean?

Those three modified disciples of the Zhao family had likely met a grim fate as well. Was this Wei Zhao truly so formidable? To be able to kill so many?

Miss Lan followed after them, all the way to the place where the soul jade tablets were kept, and saw Ancestor Xuanchen take the stairs two at a time to a shattered tablet, his gaze somewhat vacant. "As expected... as expected, Xiao Er is finished too!"

Looking at the row of shattered soul jade tablets, Ancestor Xuanchen seemed in that moment to have aged a great deal! What kind of sin was this, to have brought such ruin?

Could it be that after he had schemed to persecute and drive out Ancestor Xuantian all those years ago, the disciples who followed him then had now come seeking revenge? Which of these disciples' deaths had nothing to do with Wei Zhao?

"Mr. Xuanchen, please accept my condolences and be resigned to what has happened. If something has befallen Xiao Er, then those three Zhao family experts likely won't be coming back either." Miss Lan sighed. "It seems I am not the only one to have suffered heavy losses—you have too! We share a common enemy!"

"That may be so, but if I could truly be resigned to it, that would be fine! Wei Zhao, you wretch—ahhhh, I will most certainly kill you!" Ancestor Xuanchen howled, his face hideous. "That's right—what about Zhaoming's tablet? Is he all right?"

Ancestor Xuanchen suddenly thought of Kang Jingming, and hurriedly questioned the disciple at his side. (To be continued...)